For at least the last three years (
It Isn't About The Technology) I've been blogging about the malign effects of the way the FAANGs dominate the Web and the need for anti-trust action to mitigate them. Finally, with the recent lawsuits against Facebook and Google, some action may be in prospect. I'm planning a post on this topic. But when it comes to malign effects of monopoly I've been ignoring the other monopolists of the Internet, the telcos.
An
insightful recent post by John Gilmore to Dave Farber's IP list sparked a
response from Thomas Leavitt and some interesting follow-up e-mail. Gilmore was involved in pioneering consumer ISPs, and Leavitt in pioneering Web hosting. Both attribute the current sorry state of Internet connectivity in the US to the lack of effective competition. They and I differ somewhat on how the problem could be fixed. Below the fold I go into the details.